Canzano: Pac-12 sees light in legislation
Commissioner Teresa Gould was heavily involved.
It was a quiet Saturday morning. Teresa Gould woke without an alarm. No early morning phone call from a lawmaker, a fellow college conference commissioner, or even a Texas oil man.
I caught up with Gould as she made her way out the door on a walk.
“It’s been a wild two weeks,” the Pac-12 commissioner said.
Friday brought good news. After some tweaks to proposed legislation, the SEC and Big Ten voted in support of the Protect College Sports Act. Gould has been knee-deep in that legislation, frequently in contact with U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, in particular.
Said Gould: “There’s been a lot of cooks in the kitchen. There’s been a lot of collaboration.”
There’s still work to be done. The proposed bill could advance to a vote on the Senate floor late next week. If passed, next fall, it would presumably reach the House. I’d expect more tweaks there. Then, maybe it lands on the President’s desk.
What does this mean for the Pac-12? What facets of the legislation were most important? How does it impact the newly rebuilt conference?
I bounced that off a variety of conference presidents, athletic directors, and Gould herself on Saturday.
What I learned: